HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL: Mater Dei's 1-2 punch floors St. John Bosco

BELLFLOWER - Two outstanding performances by Mater Dei High's stars were simply too much for St. John Bosco's basketball team to overcome.

Mater Dei senior guard Elijah Brown had 26 points and junior forward Stanley Johnson had 25 points and 21 rebounds in a 79-67 Trinity League victory over the host Braves. The loss dropped Bosco's overall record to 10-2 and its Trinity League mark to 2-1.

"We couldn't get (Johnson) under control," SJB coach Derrick Taylor said. "I told (the team) we could survive one of the two of them going off, but we can't survive two, and they combined for (51) points."

Mater Dei (17-0, 3-0 Trinity League) entered the game ranked No. 1 in CIF-SS Division I-AA, No. 1 in the state and as the two-time defending state Division I champion. After falling behind 4-0 in the game's first few minutes, the Monarchs calmly worked their way back into the game, and never trailed again after Johnson and Jordan Strawberry sank consecutive 3-point shots.

"Poise," said Taylor. "One team was poised, the other team wasn't. The moment got to us."

Bosco, ranked No. 1 in Division III-A, never allowed Mater Dei to pull away, but could never catch all the way up, either. A Daniel Hamilton bucket cut the lead to 42-36 with 5:51 left in the third, and SJB got as close as 46-43 on a Darien Williams 3-pointer with 4:00 left.

The Monarchs, however, never let SJB get any closer, answering the Braves' rally with solid fundamental basketball.

"They did the little things," Taylor said. "Second-chance baskets, making us work longer on our possessions, backdoor cuts all those itty bitty things.

"They were better," Taylor added. "Let's call it what it was."

Senior Isaac Hamilton led the Braves with 23 points, including a reverse alley-oop dunk on a pass from his brother in the fourth quarter that brought the sold-out crowd to its feet. Daniel Hamilton and Williams each finished with 14 points and Devi Burleson added 10.

Despite a dominant first half by Johnson - 13 rebounds, eight points - the Braves trailed only 38-30 at halftime. Mater Dei led by as much as 12 points in the first quarter - 17-5 on a Johnson 3-pointer - before the Braves cut the deficit. Williams sank a 3-pointer before the first-quarter buzzer, cutting the Monarchs' lead to 19-16, and Bosco trimmed the lead to one point twice in the second.

Mater Dei, however, took some momentum into halftime when Chris Nealey drained a 3-point shot off an inbound play with 0.7 seconds on the clock.

The Braves return to Trinity League play at 7 p.m. Friday at home against Servite.